Dalton Highway road construction – June 6 (3 of 3)

Jun14

Here are the last of the photos from when Jack was leaving Prudhoe Bay on June 6th. There’s more info on the captions. Click on the first one and scroll to the right.

The top is the berm that was created in hopes of keeping the river back and the gap underneath is from where water was flowing.

The remnant on top of the hole was snow pushed up into a berm to try to stop the water flow.

This is the west side of the road, not the Sag River to the east.

East side where the river is, still partly frozen.

A big chunk of grounded river ice in the background.

The Sag in the background.

Eroded road and the pipeline is buried right there.

Staged culverts, but not needed. Probably 40 feet long.

Those white broken pieces are foam board insulation used to prevent the ground ice from melting if it is exposed for some reason. They are now trash.

Another section of reconstructed road.

These concrete forms were originally used to weigh down the pipeline as it was laid, in the 1970s, so that it wouldn’t move or float away, but aren’t needed when the oil is flowing.

Here they’re being used as erosion control for the natural gas line that runs from Prudhoe to Pump Station 4.

Waiting as material gets laid.

Staged culverts, probably not needed.

A Kenworth logo on Jack’s steering wheel thrown in for good measure.

Dalton Highway road construction – June 6 (2 of 3)

Jun13

Here are more photos from when Jack was leaving Prudhoe on June 6th. There’s more info on the captions. Click on the first one and scroll to the right.

The gap on the right between the tundra and the road used to be road.

This gravel was part of the old road.

The trench where the fiber optic cable is was eroded.

This is where the river normally is.

More wash out.

The mile marker had a rough time of it.

Old gravel, for the new road.

Gearing up for road “reconstruction”.

The start of the new gravel pit, for the new road job.

Equipment in front of the gravel pit.

The top is what’s left of the berm that was created a while ago and the gaps underneath are where the river was flowing.

You can see one of the trenches that were created in hopes of reigning in the river, in the background to the left.

The right side of the road has been eroded. More on the next post.

Dalton Highway road construction – June 6 (1 of 3)

Jun8

The first ten or so of these photos are from when Jack drove into Prudhoe Bay June 6th. The rest are from when he was leaving Prudhoe about 4 hours later. The place is barely recognizable. There’s more info on the captions. Click on the first one and scroll to the right.

The original road goes straight – the detour is to the right.

This is wash out between the original road and the detour road.

You can see the delineator marking the right side of the old road, on the far left in the photo.

Now you can see new culverts and the orange fiber optic cable that ran along the old road, now exposed.

The window is up, sorry. The old road was right there where that big hole is.

Those are culverts (on the left) that were used to try to save the road, but they didn’t work.

They used super sacks (on the left, big white sand bags) to line the road while they filled it in. It was eaten away though as evidenced by the collapsed tundra. Water started eroding the tundra and exposed layers of ice.

This tundra was supported by ice that has been eroded/melted.

Looking south at the end of the detour.

Now Jack is heading out of Prudhoe with the detour to the left.

Motorcycle tourists are common even this early in the season.

The water from the Sag River eroded ice and material from under the road.

Here is the orange fiber optic cable that was buried next to the old road with a layer of ice behind it. Prehistoric ice, that is.

Layers of ice under the tundra.

On the left, the Sag River, the culprit.

The base of this building was underwater a short time ago.

Just snow that hasn’t melted yet.

Melt water that has frozen over night.

On the right, that gap between the road and the tundra used to be road.

The pieces of 4x4 at the ends of the crumpled culverts are used for marking the ends.

The pieces of 4×4 at the ends of the crumpled culverts are used for marking the ends.

Gravel from the old road on top of tundra on top of ice. More on the next post.

The Dalton Highway is passable once again

Jun5

From the Alaska Department of Transportation website:

The first vehicles traveling south on the Dalton Highway, Mile 413. ADOT&PF photo. (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

(PRUDHOE BAY, Alaska) – The Dalton Highway has reopened to traffic after an 18-day closure caused by massive spring breakup flooding.

Traffic began moving on the road at 8 a.m. this morning. The highway is open to two-way traffic, but drivers will encounter a section with flaggers and pilot car at Mile 412-414. The road remains in rough condition through the flood zone at Miles 392-414, with multiple narrow sections and an uneven surface. Drivers are urged to travel slowly and watch for signs.

The reopening of the highway marks a milestone for the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (ADOT&PF), which has been handling the Dalton flood response since the initial overflow problems in March. The cost of this spring’s emergency response totals $15.5 million.

Flooding on the section of highway south of Deadhorse began in mid-March when overflow from the Sagavanirktok (Sag) River began spilling onto the highway. River aufeis accumulated in the bottom of the shallow and braided river and pushed the flowing water to the top, though temperatures in the area remained below freezing.

For more go to http://dot.alaska.gov/comm/pressbox/arch_2015/PR15-2534.shtml#

Unbelievable flooding photos from ADN

May22

From Alaska Dispatch News:

Loren Holmes / ADN

DEADHORSE — Unprecedented flooding continues to interfere with daily operations on the North Slope oil patch after surging waters wiped away swaths of the Dalton Highway and isolated a section of Deadhorse, the jumping-off point for the sprawling industrial region.

“This is just epic,” said Mike Coffey, commander of the unified incident command, a response team consisting of the state, the North Slope Borough and oil companies. “People who have been here for decades say they’ve never seen anything like it.”

The state has estimated the costs of the damage and repairs since March at $5.1 million. The federal government may pay for much of that, since the icing and flooding on the highway has been declared a disaster, said Coffey, the director of state transportation maintenance and operations.

You can see more photos and get a lot of more info from the article: http://www.adn.com/article/20150521/epic-flooding-dalton-highway-hinders-north-slope-oil-operations

What water can do to a road

May20

Photos from Joe Kemp of the Dalton Highway eroding because of the Sag River overflow near Prudhoe Bay.

The road is officially washed out now

May19

Another jarring image from Alaska Department of Transportation. The road is definitely washed out now. Yikes!

http://dot.alaska.gov/nreg/dalton-updates/

And here is another link for tons of photos and videos from AK DOT & PF:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/akdotpf/sets/72157651922122696/with/16982351150/

Aerial photos of the road closure from Alaska DOT

May18

Jack said “Holy Sh**!” when he looked at the Alaska Department of Transportation page today. Not because of the photos of the road flooding but when he saw this:

2015: Dalton Highway 401-414 Reconstruction, will start this summer and is a two year project. Construction contract award is $27 million. The scope of the project is to reconstruct the Dalton Highway from Mile Post 401-414, improvements include raising the grade seven feet, replacing culverts and surfacing the road.

2016: Dalton Highway 379-401 Reconstruction, scheduled for construction in 2016, estimated cost is $40-50 million. The scope of the project is to reconstruct the Dalton Highway from Mile Post 379-401, improvements including raising the grade seven feet, replacing culverts and surfacing the road.

This will raise the road 7 feet above the tundra, so when someone goes off the road, it will be a lot bigger deal. Here is the link for that Alaska DOT page: http://dot.alaska.gov/nreg/dalton-updates/

Here are two aerial photos of the flooding, both from the Alaska DOT webpage. Click on the photos for more info on the captions.

On the left you can see the remnants of a berm that was created by excavators to hopefully hold the water back and direct it away from the road. But the water has now spilled over the road and broken through the berm. You can also see how the road is washing away. From AK DOT webpage.

On the top of the photo are more berms that were created to direct the water away from the road. From AK DOT webpage.

Video from right before current road closure

May18

This is a video from trucker John Slater that shows how the Dalton looked last Saturday. The road is now closed because of the overflowing Sag River making it impassable once again. See prior posts for more info.

Dalton Highway, April 16th & 17th

Apr26

These photos are the last of the ones Jack took from when the road was in bad condition. It’s much improved now, to the point where Jack says there’s nothing to take photos of. When the melt starts up there though, who knows what will happen.

April 16th, Jack is heading out of Prudhoe. It was a cloudy morning.

The excavator is moving snow and slush away from the road to keep the water flowing to where they want it to go.

That’s all trucks waiting to get into Prudhoe.

This is the next day, heading back into Prudhoe.

These excavators are digging ditches and creating berms to hold the water back. Overflow from the Sag River has been harassing truckers and the State of Alaska for weeks before this.